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Sunday, January 8, 2012

Lip Ink lip stain in Red
This one is my favourite beauty product of all, by miles and miles.

I discovered Lip Ink through the recommendation by Miss Amanda Lee and it was love at first sight. Now, a year later, that love has only deepened. Now, I'm a girl who likes to wear red lips on a daily basis... But I also have a fairly busy life and I'm not generally a very high maintenance person. And, lets face it, no matter how good a lipstick, it is always a lot of work when you're a person who goes out a lot. Sick and tired of having to touch up my lipstick after every meal, I turned to Lip Ink - and never looked back. It lasts meals, drinks, making out, partying all day and night. I now have it in four different shades but my favourite is Red. It is a bright and sassy red, rather similar to MAC's Ruby Woo. In all of 2011, I probably wore "real" lipstick twice. For these reasons and plenty more, Lip Ink is my #1 beauty product. I simply cannot recommend it enough.

L'Oreal Elnett Satin hairspray for Coloured Hair
Simply the best hairspray I ever came across. It keeps my hair feeling smooth instead of stiff whilst providing a good hold, even for more elaborate vintage 'dos. I also love that it is brushable.

KC Professional Color Mask in Pepper
Red hair, not the easiest of colours to maintain. Several people recommended this product to me when I first went red and had trouble maintaining the colour, and I've sworn by it ever since. Most of the tinted conditioners that I've tried don't really colour hair, per se. They just give you an extra shine, if even that. This mask is a tinting treatment for coloured hair that that gives a very strong, vivid colour almost equal to freshly dyed hair. Again, the Pepper shade is bright and sassy, just the way I like it. Now, this is a Finnish product so I'm not sure how it is stocked abroad. I just always stock up plenty when I go back to Finland myself. But be sure to check out their website if you're interested.

Schwarzkopf Live XXL hair dye in Real Red 35
I only had my hair dyed professionally for the first few years upon going red and I would most definitely recommend that for anyone making the transition to red (or basically any new colour). However, I can't afford that luxury at the moment so I've gone back to the box. I was scared that I wouldn't find a colour intense enough for my liking but Real Red is the kind of shade that I really like. My only complaint is that it fades faster than most of the salon dyes... But that isn't really a complaint since I can now afford to dye my hair as often as I like to keep it an intense red.

Perfume
I love perfumes. To me a fragrance is part of a look; I don't feel as though I'm ready to go to unless I'm wearing a nice perfume. It just adds the final touch, if you will. Some people only stick with one perfume but I tend to have several on rotation to match my moods. My current favourite is Prada Candy.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and reminisce on the year that was. Whereas 2010 was a year of massive highs and massive lows for me, I believe that 2011 has quite possibly been the most amazing year of my life thus far. In 2011 I found myself fully settling in and embracing life in London. I moved houses a few months ago and came across a list of goals that I had written for myself when I moved in here in September 2010. I couldn't but smile to myself when I realised that I had fully accomplished all of those goals, if not overdone them.

Here are just a few of the highlights of my incredible 2011.

Friends

Friends, both old and new, love them all. I have the most incredible friends a girl could ask for. So many amazing memories have been made, ones that I'll cherish forever.

London

You know how you know you're in the city you're supposed to be in? When each and every time you're in there, you can't help but think to yourself just how much you love it and how lucky you are to be there. That's how I feel about London.

I studied very hard, finished university and ended up graduating with distinction. I did a star study on Jean Harlow for my final thesis. I loved the whole process from research to writing, and ended up being even more fascinated by the actress as a result.

Music

Music made me happy 365 days of the year. I discovered a new favourite band, Austra (thanks to BaronessVonVintage!), and their music has dominated by playlist ever since. I went to gigs a plenty. I saw Austra, Arcade Fire and Warpaint each three times. My other gig highlights of the year include Wild Flag at the Lexington and Timber Timbre at Union Chapel.

Films

Whereas I only ended up seeing a handful of new films (highlights include Heartbeats, Weekend and The Artist), I saw quite a lot of old films on the big screen. I also went to many awesome events, such as the UK premiere of Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In under the stars at the Somerset House in July.

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About

Welcome to Harlean's Heyday! My name is Riikka and I hail from Helsinki, Finland. I am a film historian, a fake redhead, a bon vivant wreaking havoc in academia in vintage frocks and finger waves. This blog has been named after one of my favourite actresses and style icons, Jean Harlow. She symbolises what this project is all about; love for cinema, glamour of the days gone by and, of course, blogging about it!